Ashes to Ashes (episode)
A long-presumed-dead crewmate returns to Voyager, pursued by the aliens who revived her; Icheb, Azan, Rebi and Mezoti act rebellious against Seven of Nine. Summary The episode starts on a shot of an alien shuttle pursued by a larger vessel obviously of the same origin. At the shuttle's helm, an alien (obviously female) manages to disable the pursuing ship; once done, she seems to order the shuttle's computer to locate the [[USS Voyager|USS Voyager]]. Once the Federation ship is located, she starts speaking—in English—to open a comm link. Mezoti, who has gotten out of Bay 2 and meandered into the astrophysics lab while Seven of Nine was out meeting with Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, intercepts the transmission, but inadvertently ends it while trying to forward it to Captain Kathryn Janeway. A few seconds later, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok finds her and gives her a warning not to go alone through the ship; right then, Seven enters, followed by the other Borg children. After a few explanations—and some parental advice from Tuvok—they learn of Mezoti's mistake and Tuvok manages to reopen the comm link; there, they learn that the woman in question claims to be Ensign Lyndsay Ballard, deceased on Stardate 51563, three years prior… Beamed to sickbay—behind a level 10 forcefield—the Kobali female is examined by the Doctor, who determines that, although heavily modified, the alien does indeed have similar genetic structures to the late Ensign Ballard, and that this is an indication that she is who she claims to be. Ballard explains that she was revived by the Kobali, who have the technology to revive the dead. At first she didn't believe them until they showed her the torpedo casket she was put in. They modified her DNA to exactly like theirs. Despite she was then a different specie, she was determined to return to Voyager but her new family insisted it was her old life and that her people threw her away. After three years, she gained their trust, stole a ship and came back. Janeway remains suspicious, and the alien says that she is right to be, since she could be a clone, or a telepath with access to Ensign Ballard's memories, but the Captain grants her the benefit of the doubt and welcomes her aboard. Nobody seems more upset than Ensign Harry Kim though, who had always had a crush on Lyndsay and tries as much as he can to make her feel welcome. Paris jokes that he is now in love with "the recently deceased". Ballard tries to restart her life on Voyager, even in engineering, she worked on the warp core while speaking in Kobali. However, she screwed up her dinner with Captain Janeway. She later had a nightmare about everyone ready to put her in the torpedo and then a Kobali speaks to her. After kissing Kim, the Kobali had located her. Her adoptive father, Q'Ret, demanded his daughter back and was horrified at the sight of Ballard looking human. Though she decides to remain on Voyager, Q'Ret vowed he will return, and not alone. Seven was having trouble managing the former Borg children. She imputed a schedule, which caused only more disobedience and punishment. Chakotay suggest she let them be themselves. During art class, Seven is impressed with Mezoti carving a clay model of her head and tells the children to "continue your disorder". The Doctor's treatments on Ballard were falling apart, meaning he would have to make the treatments more used. Suddenly, the Kobali attacked, forcing Ballard to return to them. *''Captain's log, Stardate 53679.4. The Doctor has stopped Ensign Ballard's treatments, and her Kobali physiology is already beginning to reassert itself. All but one of us have said our goodbyes. '' Memorable Quotes "Fun will now commence." : - Seven of Nine "Hair is one of my specialties, despite evidence to the contrary." : - The Doctor "Resume your disorder." : - Seven of Nine "Commander Tuvok finished his analysis of your shuttle and presented me with 37 different ways of repelling a Kobali attack." "Did he include your pot roast?" : - Kathryn Janeway and Lyndsay Ballard "Vien'ke debala, Jhet'leya. ''(beat) I taught myself to speak a few words of Kobali." "''That's very sweet of you, but you just told me 'The comets are tiresome.' " : - Harry Kim and Lyndsay Ballard Background Information * The stardate given for Ballard's death, 51563, places it between the fourth season episodes of and . However she is unaware of Tuvok's promotion in , which takes place much earlier in the same season. * The model Cubes made by the twins are too small to be 1/1000th scale models of a Borg cube. A Borg Cube is over three kilometers long, a 1/1000th scale model would be at least three meters. * At one point, Tom Paris recites Harry's romantic exploits. He did the same in , however he does not add the woman from that episode to the list. Awards *This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup for a Series. Links and References Guest Stars *Kim Rhodes as Lyndsay Ballard (Jhet'leya) *Kevin Lowe as Q'ret *Manu Intiraymi as Icheb *Marley S. McClean as Mezoti *Kurt Wetherill as Azan *Cody Wetherill as Rebi *Scarlett Pomers as Naomi Wildman *Tarik Ergin as Ayala (uncredited) References Ayala; dilithium; Hirogen; ice skating; inaprovaline; Ferengi; Jibelian berry salad; kadis-kot; Kobali; Kobali language; Kobali starship; Kobali shuttlecraft; limerick; neural disruptor; Norcadian; peanut butter; peanut butter and jelly sandwich; polaron; Species 689; stasis chamber; Temple of T'Panit; Tynsiya; Vyntadi Expanse |next= }} Category:VOY episodes de:Asche zu Asche fr:Ashes to Ashes nl:Ashes to Ashes